1. Technical Field
This invention relates to acoustics, and more particularly, to a system that enhances the perceptual quality of a processed voice.
2. Related Art
Many communication devices acquire, assimilate, and transfer a voice signal. Voice signals pass from one system to another through a communication medium. In some systems, including some systems used in vehicles, the clarity of the voice signal does not only depend on the quality of the communication system and the quality of the communication medium, but also on the amount of noise that accompanies the voice signal. When noise occurs near a source or a receiver, distortion often garbles the voice signal and destroys information. In some instances, noise may completely mask the voice signal so that the information conveyed by the voice signal may be unrecognizable either by a listener or by a voice recognition system.
Noise that may be annoying, distracting, or that results in lost information comes from many sources. Vehicle noise may be created by the engine, the road, the tires, the movement of air, and by many other sources. In the past, improvements in speech processing have been limited to suppressing stationary noise. There is a need for a voice enhancement system that improves speech processing by recognizing and mitigating one or more noises that may occur across a broad or a narrow spectrum.